"Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble."

How many countless hours of your days are spent worried and concerned over something that is steadfast and has no recourse to change? Hours of useless deliberations wondering if you did the right thing? Should I have changed my mind earlier? Could I have taken another path? How can I change how I'm feeling? How can I find the means for the support I need? How do I get an individual to respond and notice how I'm feeling? At times it can be saddening due to the fact God blesses us with these wonderful beings in our lives to protect and love. And in return, we want them to love and protect us. We feel this protective instinct to ward off any evil vibes that may try to pierce their daily existence. And hope they do the same for us on days we need them. Yet, there are days that nothing we do can put a dent in the situation. These days we know, in the deep crevices of our soul, there is not a thing we can do to change the situation, yet we still try like stoic angels trying to mend the hands of time.

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenityto accept the things I cannot change;courage to change the things I can;and wisdom to know the difference.Living one day at a time;Enjoying one moment at a time;Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;Taking, as He did, this sinful worldas it is, not as I would have it;Trusting that He will make all things rightif I surrender to His Will;That I may be reasonably happy in this lifeand supremely happy with HimForever in the next.Amen.

--ReinholdNiebuhr

I was recently reacquainted with this thoughtful prayer. Not that I've forgotten about it, as most days it just sits there as a seed in my memory waiting for water to produce its foliage. I believe it is always there, in the back of everyone's mind, but we refuse to let it surface due to the implications suggesting we've lost control. It is hard to admit there may be nothing we can do about a troubled situation. But it is wisdom to know when things are just out of our hands, and there is nothing further we can do. We are not really losing control of the situation, just merely giving it back to God to regain peace of mind. This is a fine-tuned coping skill. By knowing there is nothing we can do to control the situation, we gain valuable time to heal and begin the process of becoming whole again by finding alternate routes of self preservation. It may not be the easiest road, but sometimes the sheer relief of admitting that "it is out of our hands" can be a welcomed relief. Lift up and let go.................. "Where God closes a door, he will open a window."

Trust the Lord with all your heart,and lean not on your own understanding;in all your ways acknowledge him,and he will direct your paths.

-Proverbs 3:5-6

Daily Guidance

1. Relinquish and let go of what you can't control today. Work on other avenues in your life that are not beyond your means. Feel the burdens be lifted!

2. Don't be afraid to seek professional advice especially if it pertains to a loved one who may not respond well to your suggestions. Sometimes listening to an individual who has authority and experience in a field, may be able to direct you, making your trek easier.

3. Above all know the difference of WHAT you have CONTROL over and WHAT you don't, and pray for the knowledge to know the difference.

“Look after each other so that none of you will miss out on the special favor of God. Watch out that no bitter root of unbelief rises up among you, for whenever it springs up, many are corrupted by its poison."

Every good gardener knows that you can't chop weeds. Try to go after those buggers with a weed eater, and you'll get nowhere in a hurry. You've got to rip weeds up by the roots. Otherwise, they will just keep coming back and when they do, they're bound to bring more and more of their weedy friends.

It's no accident that God uses the image of a weed to describe a particular sin that has a way of creeping into all of our hearts. . . bitterness.

​Bitterness isn't one of those big, flashy sins that you can see growing above the surface of our hearts. It may not show off like anger or produce big ol' hunks of rotten fruit like disobedience. Bitterness is a sleeper sin. It grows beneath the surface, down deep in the soil of our hearts.

But the author's warning in Hebrews is clear—that bitter root will one day sprout and when it does, "many will become defiled." In other words, if that bitter root keeps growing there will be a harvest of pain for you and the people in your world. And because bitterness is a weedy sin that burrows in our hearts first, we can't just cut off the behaviors that bitterness causes.

Most people try to improve their life by looking out all their external factors. Things such as overeating, stress, sleeplessness, or bad tempers are tangible and easier to control. The truth is, there maybe a bitter root that needs pulling so that external factors will not keep popping up. You may be able to control your behavior for a while or keep a good attitude for short period of time, but you never really get free.

I had a dear friend who had issues with her children and marriage. It was enormous burden he was carrying and still is. I watched him often trying to gain control of the little aspects of his life. He became OCD on keeping things orderly because that was something that was easier to get a hold on. He also tried to control the lives of others around him. Little things that were overlooked by the average person laid heavily at his front doorstep. No one had an inkling of why he became so over stressed at the silliest of situations. The bottom line is he had little control over the central aspect of his life, his family. Any ideas of rectifying the situation fell upon deaf ears. Instead, he chose to ignore it, and become a nuisance controlling other peoples lives.

If you are easily irritated over a situations, you must go deeper. You must discover why you are angry or why you must control the stages of others lives or your own. Find out why you can't get along with people. Why you are so negative. If you look deeply and get to the root, then you'll be able to deal with the problem, overcome it, and truly begin to change.

You do not need to go back and recall all the painful memories of the past. You need to examine your heart with the following exercise. This is to be certain that you have not buried anger and unforgiveness on the inside. if you have areas in your life where you are constantly struggling, trying to change but finding yourself unable to do so, ask God to show you these bitter roots that are keeping you from being free.

This Week's Meditation:

My grievances hide the light of the world in me.

Meditate on this for several minutes a day. Allow various thoughts to come into your mind. Each time a negative thought comes, imagine that you are walking through the dark clouds of your mind. Allow the clouds to touch you, feel its presence and then move on. Imagine as you go deeper there is a great light in the middle as you past these barriers. Remind yourself of healing each moment. ​

"There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy dwelling places of the Most High."

It can be extremely difficult to focus on the good when, seemingly, bad things are happening in your life. However you can train your mind to focus on the good things in your life rather than dwelling on the bad. This is about changing the way you think and changing your thinking pattern. Do you use any of these thinking patterns in your day to day life?

8 Destructive Patterns

Thinking life is stinks. Thinking in this pattern promotes everything in life is bad, everybody is not to be trusted and nothing good will ever happen to you e.g. “I won’t get that job, the interviewer didn’t like me, I didn’t particularly like them anyway.”

Drawing your own conclusions. You tend to make a lot of conclusions without any evidence to back up your conclusions. This can be a really destructive pattern as it can limit you in seeing reality for what it is e.g. “Look at her workstation. She's so obsessed with pleasing the boss.”

Never me. This is when you think nothing good will ever happen to you. This can be a deep seated way of thinking and it is a deep down inability to believe you are worthy of anything good happening to you e.g. “I’ll never have money, I’ve never had it before so I’ll never have it in the future, might as well carry on with this crappy job, at least it pays the mortgage.”

I got your number. Presumes you know what people are thinking about you and it’s all bad. e.g. “She thinks I’m an idiot, I’ll try to avoid talking to her.”

Should, would, could. This type of person knows what they have to do to change their life, they are capable and they know it and they would do it if only……… e.g. “I know I could go to university and I would, but I’m just to busy with other things right now, I’ll apply next year.”

Emotion based. Your emotions control what you are thinking and therefore your vision of what reality is e.g. “I feel incapable of doing that so I must be incapable”.

It’s all my fault. You see yourself as being the cause of everything bad that has happened e.g. “It’s my fault he left me for another woman.” You’ll notice this type of person does not take responsibility for the good things that happen.

They’re all wrong. You see everyone as incapable of doing anything right and your way is the best way to do it e.g. “He can’t do it right, I’ll stay late tonight and fix it when he’s gone.”

The Bible says, "We should cast down every wrong imagination and take into captivity every wrong thought." (2 Corinthians 10:5) Simple put: Don't dwell on it. Get rid of it immediately. Reject it, and choose to think on something positive. If you make the mistake of dwelling on the enemy's lies, you allow that thought process to take root. Sadly, the more you think about it, the more it's going to grow, creating an enemy stronghold in your mind from which attacks can be launched. Night and day this enemy will pummel your mind with notations such as: You're never going to do it. No one in your family had more than a high school education. You're brain doesn't work as fast as hers. Your grandmother was always depressed like you. You were born into the wrong family with no money.

To change your thinking pattern you have to

Recognize when the enemy attacks your mind saying that you don't have what it takes. God says you do have what it takes. Whom are you going to believe?

Be aware there is no such thing as the wrong side of the tracks with God. If you put your trust in him, god will make your life significant.

Slowly change and introduce a new thinking pattern. Believe what god says about you. Start agreeing with positive thoughts. God's thoughts will fill you with faith, hope, and victory.

Keep working on all your destructive thinking patterns. Realize it didn't take a day to get into this mess. Thought patterns bombard our mind every minute of the day. Catching them and changing them takes time.

Change your life with your new way of thinking. Find positive sources. This includes friends, family, and social media.

"We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

With that message as today's prerequisite when we wake each morning, who can subdue mental chatter? After all, it is clearly written RIGHT THERE the conditions upon how to greet the day! No wonder our minds are always embedded with continual mental chatter. We are programmed to do well and KEEP doing well for the benefits of others! And those "others" can be quite a bit of people. Just take a moment to consider all the people who rely on you each day!
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Mental noise is the constant chatter of the mind that never stops. It is the inner conversation or inner monologue that goes on constantly in our minds. This mental noise is like a background noise that never ceases, from the moment of waking up in the morning, to the moment of falling asleep at night. Often, it even prevents you from falling asleep. It is a sort of inner voice that constantly analyzes everything about your life, circumstances, and the people you meet. It is a voice in the head that just keeps talking and talking!

The mind also repeats the same thoughts over and over again, like in a loop, like a record that got stuck. If these are a positive thought that's fine. However, too often, these are negative thoughts that intensify stress, worry, anger or frustration.

Yet, your heavenly Father does not dwell on the fact that you must help anyone at any given notice. He's not dwelling on your faults when you can't fit that puzzle together. In fact, God focuses on the things you're doing right; he sees the best in you. Good sees all your GOOD moves, not EVERY move.

​Your sense of value isn't based on your achievements, how well you perform, or how many gold stars you earn each day. It is vital you accept your limitations. In order to be truly happy in life, you must be at peace from yourself. That includes mental chatter. Often, people feel badly when they can't fix everything that is placed at their feet. Sometimes they over overly critical of themselves replaying that record over and over in their head. No wonder they're not happy and so overwhelmed! Don't be so hard on yourself!

Stop reading for a moment and see if you can stop your mental noise. Just stop thinking, watch your mind and notice what happens.

Did it work? How long where you able to keep your mind from drifting? You will find you are thinking on stopping your thinking, which means that you are still thinking.

Shutting down the mental noise voluntarily, when you wish to do so, is not achieved by reading books. This ability develops gradually, and over a long period of training the mind through prayer, concentration exercises, and meditation.

​Try the following video to achieve mental peace. Remember God loves you! He doesn't expect you to do it all!

Ever get the feeling when you're with God that you must always monopolize the conversation? Our minds just go a mile a minute, "Thank you God for that unexpected check I received lately. Thank you for the acceptance letter my son received yesterday. By the way, I don't know how I'm going to find time to pick up Jeannie's son with Bobbie and take them to school on time now that her car is broken down. It looks like the refrigerator is failing, please help me find a new one on sale. Oh, and Sherri needs prayers. Her job is becoming too much, and she is looking for a new position. Oh, one more thing, my mother was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Please send a blessing her way and help me deal with this new situation as she ages."

Our lives are filled with nuances and it seems only natural when we do find a few minutes that we get every tidbit in to share with God. But is this all necessary? Doesn't God know what is in our hearts already? Our hearts are often so busy with lists that we can't hear the invitation to "be still." Do you feel the readiness to do so but still find it difficult? Then you need to ask yourself the question if you honestly want to obey God completely and belong to him fully.

Then in silent anticipation, turn your heart fully toward God in adoration without words. God will respond with his holy love. You must get off the fixation of the earthly joy-o-meter. Sitting in stillness will well up the presence of God living in you. His direction in our life will become crystal clear. You must practice this until in is as natural as breathing.

Jeanne Guyon wrote that eventually it's possible to experience oneness with God. "Self-effort gradually decreases. Eventually, it ceases altogether. When self-effort ceases, your will is passive before God. This is union. Divine union. The self is ended. The human will is totally passive and responds to every movement of God's will."

I believe this is innately what each of us wants. No worries, complete joy living in the stillness of God's will.

"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me."

There are so many great stories about Moses in the Bible. His inspiration to his people is downright amazing. There were over 600,000 men, women, and children on foot over the Exodus. Trying to keep that many people fed, comforted, and full of faith was a miracle in itself. Out of all the messages that came from above to Moses, this was the most spectacular.

As the newly freed Israelites camped at the foot of Mt. Sinai, Moses climbed the mountain where he first encountered God. During his first encounter, God appeared to Moses in a burning bush and gave him the commission to return to Egypt and lead the Exodus. In this encounter, God gave Moses a moral compass to guide the Israelites as his special nation. That moral compass was the Ten Commandments.

The first commandment stipulates the overriding dynamic by which man and God are to relate to one another. If we want to have a loving relationship with God, we need to let God be God. It's that simple. Not what we want, but what God wants.

"You shall have no other gods before me" is not suggesting we become Satanists or worship other gods of the moon and wheat fields. What God is saying is that we must put down worries about other things in our lives that may become more important than God. If it affects our relationship with Him then it is another "god". When this relationship is affected we don't feel the multitude of God's blessings.

Every now and then it is important to stop and ask the question, "What am I obsessed with? What do I desperately need?" If the answer is anything other than God, then you need to readjust your compass and get it pointed to heaven. Haven't you ever noticed as you whine for things in life you become depressed and obsessed? This takes away from our solid relationship with God and ensures these "wanted" items become the prime focus each day. When this happens you get a chance to get right again. A chance to bring him back to the center of your life.

Dear God,Thank you today for just being God.I want you to be the most important person in my life.Show me when something takes your placeso that I may get back on track again andin a solid relationship with you. Help me to experience your love each waking moment.

"Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far has the Lord helped us."

Songs are an important component that can make an enormous difference in a way a person feels. Even if you are primarily not a vocalist, there are other qualities that are essential for success: having enthusiasm for singing; being able to establish a good rapport with others singing; being comfortable with your own voice (no matter what your vocals), and being uplifted as your spirit soars. That's it! Your voice will blend in with the multitude of others and the Holy Spirit will touch you.

The above verse is from an incident in the prophet Samuel's life when he was a younger man and had just seen the hand of God defeat the perennial enemy of Israel, the Philistines. To honor God, Samuel set up a stone monument at the place of the victory. He called that stone, "Ebenezer." If you are a patron of church, or have been in the past, you might have sung the line from "Come Thou Font of Every Blessing" that says, "Here I raise my Ebenezer." Most people sing these words never realizing what the words mean.

Ebenezer means "stone of help". Samuel had gathered the people of Israel at the city of Mizpah, about four miles northwest of Jerusalem. The Philistines heard about the meeting and marched on Samuel and the Israelites. Samuel cried out to the Lord for help, and God so confused the Philistines so blatantly that the Israelites won the battle.

Got wants to be our Ebenezer, our "stone of help." When we are in the right relationship with Christ he is our source of strength. Jesus called the Holy Spirit "the Helper". And this Holiest of Helpers touches us most when we are filled with the Spirit. What else can fill us with such joy and peace than those blessed church hymns?! Play them often, in fact, grab a CD to pop in throughout the week to tame that tiger in you and soothe your soul!

"Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

Saul was a tax collector whose soul was in great turmoil. He knew the business he was affiliated with was not upscale. In fact, by many of the citizens, he was considered a down right degenerate. Jesus came to the Temple one day, looked upon Saul, and saw his heart was breaking for righteousness. He spoke to Saul telling him his new name will be Paul, and he will break free of this heartache by following him. Saul got up immediately, leaving all his monies at the table and followed the Lord Jesus Christ. The New Testament is a compilation of twenty-seven of his letters. Today's verse is taken from one of these.

Paul was on a continual quest to bring peace and grace to others just as he received it from Christ. This script comes from his letter to the Christians in the Roman city of Philippi. Paul sends them God's grace and peace in his blessing. He knew that every Christian had the right to experience both. The root idea of grace is a "gift". Christian faith is based on the reality that God gives us grace. We don't have to earn it. It is a gift made possible due to Jesus dying on the cross. Grace is more than a concept. It is a spiritual reality. We can all experience God's grade through this natural gift to us. All we have to do is receive it. We can't earn it or buy it! We can only experience it with an open heart.

Peace in the Bible is much more than the end of a hostile period. God's peace produces a state of well-being that includes spiritual harmony with him. It is a relational harmony between his people that includes physical health, material provision, and an inner state of serenity. It is the actual product from living in the right relationship with God. Often at the end of church you will hear, "Go in Peace to Love and Serve the Lord." We also hear, "The Peace of Christ be with you." These words are set to inspire believers with the true message of God. Let the grace and peace of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today!

Father, thank you for your grace you've given me,through Jesus Christ. I know that as long as I amin a relationship with you I can experience your peace.I ask you to touch my life with grace and peace today. Amen.